Former Fresno State safety Phillip Thomas has made an impression in mini camp and OTAs with the Washington Redskins, and there is a chance the fourth-round draft pick could be starting very early in the season.

Thomas and Bacarri Rambo, another rookie defensive back with the Redskins, did a Google hangout with some fans and media members for the Washington Post this week, touching on a wide variety of subjects including … Chicken McNuggets.

Thomas said he was headed back to Fresno to workout with some of his former teammates before the start of camp – probably a good thing.

Fresno State will open fall camp on Aug. 1, likely without offensive tackle Kolby Drew, a transfer from Palomar College and one of six offensive linemen in its 2013 recruiting class. According to sources, the 6-foot-5, 280-pound Drew is unlikely to enroll in school because of a family issue.

Drew was an intriguing prospect for the Bulldogs, who have depth issues in their offensive line. Despite playing for a team that went only 4-6 and 2-4 in the Southern Conference, he was a first-team all-conference and all-state selection by the California Community College Football Coaches Association.

The Bulldogs also lost interior lineman Patrick Kim, a mid-year transfer from Mount San Antonio College, who was forced to take a medical retirement after sustaining a neck injury in a non-contact drill during spring practice.

For two games, New Mexico didn’t have much to sweat. The Lobos had fallen behind in the top of the first inning of their first game at the Mountain West Conference Tournament when Nevada designated hitter Hugo Hernandez hit a two-run homer, but trailed for all of maybe 10 minutes. They tied the score in the bottom of that inning, took a lead the next and were up through that game and a win over UNLV.

It appeared they would make quick work of San Diego State on Saturday in the championship game, as well, taking a three-run lead in the very first inning. But the Aztecs worked their way back and into a lead on a booming three-run homer by Matt Munoz in the fifth inning and once challenged, the Lobos lacked the necessary response in falling 8-7 at Beiden Field.

New Mexico and San Diego State, the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds, will play a final game in the double-elimination tournament on Sunday at 1 p.m., the winner taking the automatic bid into a NCAA Regional.

Opportunity was there for New Mexico (37-19). But the Lobos failed to score with runners at first and second and one out in the fifth inning, with the bases loaded and only one out in the seventh and could come up with only one run in the eighth when again leaving the bases loaded.

San Diego State left-hander Mike Robards, in his sixth inning of work, gave up a run in the ninth, but with the bases loaded got Chase Harris to ground into a game-ending double play.

‘’When you have those big situation, you just kind of take a deep breath, take a step out and just realize, hey, if I make good pitches here, keep the ball down and good things are going to happen,’’ said Robards, who threw 123 pitches in getting through 5 2/3 innings and some huge messes.

‘’That’s what I kept telling myself – keep the ball down and things were going to work out, let my defense play. I wasn’t trying to blow away these guys, obviously. These are the best hitters in the nation, so I was just trying to work the process and luckily it went well for me.’’

San Diego State (30-29) had to beat UNLV to get a shot at New Mexico for the MW Tournament title, winning that game Saturday afternoon 6-2. But the Aztecs, who before Saturday had been above the .500 mark only once this month, had plenty left.

They scored one run in the second another in the third and then in the fifth blasted its way into the lead. Danny Sheehan opened the inning with a walk against the Lobos’ Kevin Baumgartner and Tim Zier doubled to put runners at second and third. Ryan Muno then walked, loading the bases, and that was the end of Baumgartner, who had an ERA of 7.76 during the regular season.

Jonathan Cuellar came on and gave up a run on a sacrifice fly by Tyler France and Munoz followed with his three-run homer over the wall in left center.

Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr completed 67.3 percent of his passes last season in leading the Bulldogs to a Mountain West Conference championship, but none were as tough as this throw. We knew Carr was good, but …

Fresno State advanced to a second elimination game at the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Friday and third overall with a 10-1 victory over Nevada, a game which, by the Bulldogs’ standard to this point, was relatively tame.

Left-hander Tyler Linehan shut down the Wolf Pack on five hits, allowing only one run. He struck out eight. Nevada left six runners on base, which is quite a switch from the Bulldogs first two games in the tournament when Nevada stranded 15 runners in a 12-inning victory over Fresno State in the first-round on Wednesday and Air Force left 17 on base in an elimination game on Thursday.

Fresno State pitchers have left 38 runners on base in 30 innings, and allowed the Wolf Pack and Falcons only four hits in 34 at-bats with a runner in scoring position, a .118 batting average.

It has been a rough year for Tyler Linehan, the Fresno State Bulldogs’ left-hander. Any good outing was followed by a bad one, and there were far more of those through February, March and April. He couldn’t gain any traction, struggling with his mechanics and to find the strike zone – he walked 22 batters and hit six others in his first 34 1/3 innings, his ERA at that point 8.39.

Fresno State left-hander Tyler Linehan

But the Bulldogs’ junior made two solid starts at the end of the regular season, throwing three scoreless innings in a victory over Hawaii on May 7 and four scoreless innings in a win over Nevada on May 16, kindling the thought he could contribute come the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

That, he said after that victory over the Wolf Pack, would be awesome. For the Bulldogs, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, he did and it was, Linehan building on his late-season run on Friday by taking out Nevada 10-1 in an elimination game at Beiden Field and carrying the ‘Dogs into another must-win game at 3 p.m. against San Diego State, the No. 3 seed in the tournament.

‘’The beginning of the season was tough, a really slow start, not doing what you want to do and stuff,’’ said Linehan, who allowed only five hits and one run while striking out a season-high eight batters in his complete game victory. ‘’But working with (pitching coach Steve Rousey), he’s a great coach, working things throughout the year he stuck with me. We fixed some things the last couple weeks and just got it rolling and got momentum and got confidence going out there.’’

Linehan was sharp from the start, retiring the first eight batters he faced before a two-out walk in the third. He was getting ahead of the Wolf Pack hitters and pounding the strike zone – 16 of his first 20 and 24 of his first 34 pitches were for strikes.

He gave up only that single run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by first baseman Hugo Hernandez. And, while in tight at that point, the Bulldogs ended up putting the game away with four runs in the bottom of that inning, three coming on a home run by left fielder Brody Russell.

Fresno State (23-32) added five more in the bottom of the eighth, including a three-run home run by leadoff hitter Jordan Luplow.

New Mexico won the regular-season championship in the Mountain West Conference by daylight, seven games ahead of UNLV. They crushed the ball all season, scoring an average of 9.3 runs in its 30 league games. So when Josh Walker gave up a two-run home run to Nevada designated hitter Hugo Hernandez in the first inning of their opening game in the conference tournament, he didn’t fret at all.

The Lobos’ starter settled in, kept firing his fastball for strikes, and the offense took care of the Wolf Pack in a 7-3 victory on Thursday at Beiden Field.

With the win, New Mexico (38-18) advanced to a 7 p.m. match up against UNLV on Friday, one win closer to what would be its third consecutive MW tournament title.

The top-seeded Lobos scored six quick runs against Nevada starter Tyler Wells, getting a two-run double from Mitch Garver in the first inning, a two-run homer from Sam Haggerty in the second and a two-run homer by Luke Campbell in the third.

DJ Peterson, with Garver a co-player of the year in the conference for a second year in a row, put the Lobos’ seventh run on the board with a towering home run to left in the seventh, his 17th this season.

That was plenty for Walker.

The junior right-hander, who threw a three-hit shutout to beat Fresno State on May 10 the last time he was on the mound at Beiden Field, allowed only five hits and one run after the first, improving to 11-0 this season.

He left the game with two outs in the ninth, after Brad Gerig reached on a fielding error by shortstop Jared Holley and Lance Berringer drew a two-out walk.

Gabe Aguilar came on to get the final out, retiring Brett Jones on a fly ball to left and drop Nevada (24-31) into an elimination game on Friday at 11 a.m. against Fresno State.

A year ago at tournament time, when Fresno State was making its way through the bottom half of the bracket to emerge as champions of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, Austin Wynns caught every inning of every game, 58 in all including 18 over two games in one day, in temperatures that hit a high of 101 degrees in the opening game against Hawaii.

Fresno State catcher Austin Wynns

Coach Mike Batesole thought better of that on Thursday, when the Bulldogs faced an elimination game against Air Force in the Mountain West Conference Tournament at Beiden Field.

Wynns, a senior, didn’t start. But he kept pestering Batesole to get onto the field and he ended up playing a huge role in the Bulldogs’ 6-4 victory that kept them alive for a chance to extend their streak of conference titles, either regular season or tournament, to eight.

Coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, after the Falcons had closed to within one run in the top half, Wynns punched a 1-0 pitch into right for a two-run single to give Fresno State and its bullpen a bit of a cushion to get through the eighth and ninth innings.

‘’He was nudging me all day to get in there and he wanted to start and catch today,’’ Batesole said. ‘’But I was thinking there’s a chance if we’re going to get through this he’s going to have to catch five (games) in three days so we tried to get him a little break and good for him for coming in and doing what a senior is supposed to do.’’

Fresno State used three of its best pitchers in Blake Quinn, Derick Velazquez and Jordan Brink in the opening game of the Mountain West Conference Tournament, only to fall into the deep end of the bracket with a 12-inning loss to Nevada.

So on Thursday, in an elimination game against the Air Force, the Bulldogs needed a strong start from freshman Tim Borst, not only to win the game but to preserve some pitching for the remainder of the tournament.

Fresno State freshman Tim Borst

With the help of some stellar defensive play, they got it. Borst went seven innings in the Bulldogs’ 6-4 victory over the Falcons, scattering 11 hits and allowing three runs – not bad considering the Falcons had 18 plate appearances with a runner in scoring position and left 12 runners on base when the freshman right-hander was in the game.

‘’That was huge,’’ Coach Mike Batesole said. ‘’He’s our toughest pitcher, and that’s why we picked him instead of some of the other choices we had. We had to have him. We knew with the short turnaround, being here late last night and getting here early this morning, that it probably was going to take our toughest guy to get through that and that’s what he is and that’s what he did.’’

With Borst taking seven innings out of the equation, the Bulldogs were able to keep some solid options for an elimination game on Friday against either San Diego State, Nevada or New Mexico. They are to play the lowest losing seed from games four and five in the tournament.

Left-hander Tyler Linehan remains on the board, as does freshman Jake Shull. Garrett Mundell and Will Munro have yet to pitch in the tournament. And Batesole said there is a possibility that Quinn and Velazquez, who threw 60 and 63 pitches, could come back to pitch.

‘’I’ll have to talk to (pitching coach Steve Rousey) and see,’’ he said. ‘’I don’t think Brink will be able to, but the other two guys he might be able to run enough (to loosen up). We can’t run Brink into the ground because he’s going to be playing. But the other guys we might be able to run some of it out of them and get them out a day early. I don’t know, we’ll see.’’

With the prospect of two games on Friday, pitching will be at a premium. And the Bulldogs have some after the outing by Borst, who had been working mostly out of the bullpen the past two months. The seven innings against Air Force was a season-high.

”You have to give Borst some credit,” Batesole said. ”I mean, that kid was out there throwing on Thursday and Saturday (against Nevada) and now back out here again and dumps in 120 pitches. That’s a pretty gutsy performance from a pretty tough little freshman.”

Patrick Bayardi, the UNLV right fielder, came into the Mountain West Conference Tournament leading Division I in career hits, RBI and total bases and it figures there would be a big one or two in there somewhere. The senior is a three-time first-team all-conference selection, has led the Rebels in home runs and RBI the past two seasons.

But in his first at-bat on Thursday against San Diego State right-hander Michael Cederoth, Bayardi struck out with runners at first and second. And in his second at-bat, he struck out looking when leading off the fourth inning.

But coming up with the bases loaded in the fifth, Bayardi crushed the first pitch he got from Cederoth over the wall in left center field, the grand slam, his 11th home run this season, leading the Rebels to a 6-3 victory in Game 4 of the tournament at Beiden Field.

UNLV (37-18) will play New Mexico or Nevada in Game 8 on Friday at 7 p.m. The Aztecs (27-29) at either 11 a.m or 3 p.m. will play an opponent to be determined – the lowest losing seed from Games 4 and 5 plays at 11 a.m. and the highest losing seed from those games plays at 3 p.m.

Fresno State, which beat Air Force in an elimination game on Thursday, plays in the 11 a.m. game.

Bayardi struck out for a third time in the seventh against Aztecs’ reliever Ethan Miller, making it an all or nothing afternoon. But UNLV was able to add a run there on a RBI single by Patrick Armstrong, backing some solid pitching from starter Erick Fedde and relievers Brayden Torres and Kenny Oakley.